Recent Posts. Nowadays, flexography and gravure printing quality are considered to be at the same level, which means there is no reason to compare which is better. Flexography, or flexo, has moved to the forefront of popular printing methods, with its . The renaissance of flexo—the technological development of inks, aniloxes, plates, prepress techniques and printing machines—has now reached the level where anybody, anywhere in the world, can start printing high-quality flexo and compete with gravure printing. The problems we faced 10 years ago, such as dot bridging and the halo effect, do not exist anymore in high-quality flexo printing. If you know the letterpress printing method, you will notice that flexo printing is more of its advanced version because of the same rapid speed rotary functionality. These markets have jumped directly to high-quality flexo printing by adopting the newest machines and tools. This condition is caused by slippage at the point of contact and impression between the plate and the substrate and/or even the plate and the anilox roll. The printed image appears like The problems we faced five years ago, such as poor color strength, poor fading to zero, solid ink porosity and even bounce, disappear when the newest technologies are used. AVT offers superior vision technology that delivers the highest level of process control and quality assurance for flexo production processes. ). Flexo printing is unique because it adapts well to different materials (like our own EF multisubstrate flexo press that prints on thin film, paper, cartonboard, shrink sleeves, inmould, lamitube and flexible packaging) and can use a wider range of inks, including water-based inks and UV inks. The costs of flexo printing plates is still higher than offset plates; Print quality is not that high as rotogravure and offset capabilities consistently growing and expanding as consumer demand shifts.. As the printing industry moves forward into 2020 and beyond, let’s take a fresh look at the technology available, how flexo has changed to meet consumer demand, and how 5 other popular printing methods compare. Flexo Printing – Pros and Cons. Traditionally, packaging printers have held gravure printing as the standard to which they compare everything else. HD Flexo printing has raised the industry standard by providing the HD Label Printing quality of offset printing and the HD Flexo Printing quality of gravure printing at a fraction of the price. Flexographic printing uses flexible photopolymer printing plates wrapped around rotating cylinders on a web press. We are bringing our customers peace of mind by maximizing their productivity and efficiency while reducing their costs and downtime. High-quality flexographic printing has never been as easy as it is today. Incorporated in the year 2018, we 3 S Design, have uniquely positioned ourselves as the prominent manufacturer and exporter of an exceptional quality assortment of Flexo Printing Machines and Paper Cup Printing Machine.Offered products range consists of Multi Color Flexo Printing Machine, Flexo Printing Machine, Paper Cup Printing Machine, Flexographic Printing Machine. Flexo and offset are both popular, but they perform their tasks differently. While this was indeed true 20 years ago, we should not keep repeating these same myths today. Our products line includes Inline/Stack/CI Flexographic printing machine for label and packaging printing, Digital Finishing Machine for Label die cutting and Quality Inspection,Converting Machine for Slitting and pouches making. Flexographic printing is significantly faster than digital, making large runs of labels more cost-effective to print on flexo presses. Despite all the good experiences and examples, there are still many brand owners hesitating to convert. (Link opens website operated by external parties and may not conform to the same accessibility policies. Flexographic printing, or flexo, is a relief printing technique similar to letterpress that employs rubber or soft plastic plates, a simple inking system and fast drying inks. Download our free guide to find out how to Esko helps you with the production of high quality flexo printing plates. Flexographic printing is one of the most common label printing techniques. Similarly, we have been taught that flexo is suitable for lower-quality runs and shorter runs, but that it can be used on a wide range of substrates. The printing method provides a combination of quality, productivity, and flexibility. In printing there are many Specifications that build upon the ISO 12647-2 Standard. Flexo plates: reduce lead times and boost quality. These markets have jumped directly to high-quality flexo printing by adopting the newest machines and tools. Flexo Printing. When we look at the world map of packaging printing, we see Asia, the Middle East and Southern Europe have traditionally been strong areas for gravure, while other parts of Europe and North America have been strong flexo markets. Our state of the art flexo presses are ideal for efficient, high quality long runs. Flexo printing has become very attractive to brands all over the world. This eliminates ink buildup. Flexography inks can print on many types of absorbent and nonabsorbent materials. MPS Systems is a worldwide, high-quality brand of flexo, offset and hybrid press solutions for the printing of labels and flexible packaging. We have extensive print and embellishment capabilities, which our experienced representatives would be happy to discuss during an expert consultation. To test dry properties of flexo inks a standard print on a substrate is necessary. The reasons for the regional differences are traditions and conservativeness—When people are used to doing things one way, the methods remain unchanged for a long time. These benefits are further extended by AVT’s workflow, archiving, and report options, which allow the automated tracking of quality for every roll, at every stage of printing and finishing. These benefits are further extended by AVT’s workflow, archiving, and report options, which allow the automated tracking of quality for every roll, at every stage of printing and finishing. In flexo printing, the requirements for product quality are high and, in a contested market, increasingly rising. Flexo printing has been improving over the years. By using this website, you are agreeing to our, inspection solutions for the pharmaceutical industry, Customizable sensitivities in Regions of Interest. AVT offers superior vision technology that delivers the highest level of process control and quality assurance for flexo production processes. Pre-press quality control ensures that print jobs won't need to be re-done. Secondly, it seems the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brand owners require their suppliers to move to flexo to reduce their environmental load. In South America, this means machinery and plate technologies fully support high-quality printing, since modern flexo presses use thin plate technology and prepress is made with high-resolution imaging. Certain print conditions and substrates can cause buildup of ink on the flexo printing plate. Flexible Printing Plates In this case, printing “plates” are thin sheets of polymer material , laser engraved with an image of your digital artwork. We have recently installed a new Allstein 8 + 1 colour press with downstream unit that can enhance the printing with special finishes to … In this process, ink is applied to a relief plate cylinder, which then prints the relief design onto the label material. Flexographic printing is continuously evolving, and the platemaking process is seeing this exponentially. Look at what has happened in South America and what currently is happening in Asia—It is a tremendous change! There are two major causes for this development: First, tighter legislation bans the use of toluene in India and elsewhere in Asia, meaning gravure printers must change the traditional way of printing to use toluene-free inks (or move to flexo). FUTEC’s 100% print inspection guarantee: How to automate your quality control on typical defects occurring in gravure, flexo and label printing. That is not surprising, as even some flexo printers are still underestimating their capability to print high-quality flexo. Advantages of flexo printing. There is no need for gravure printing anymore—You can do it all with flexo. For short print runs, flexographic print offers an economically viable answer to gravure, without sacrificing print quality. Advantages of flexo printing. Currently, the Asian market is jumping onto this development, and we are also seeing several European-manufactured printing machines installed in Asia. The third reason for the number of European machines increasing on the Asian market is obviously that when one company has successfully implemented an efficient solution, other companies start following the trend and implement those same solutions in an effort to reach that new benchmark. Whether you are in need of inspection solutions for the pharmaceutical industry or quality assurance for shrink sleeves, or any of a host of other flexo-printed products, AVT offers a full range of print inspection platforms that will suit your business’ requirements. Flexo printing allows the inked surface to conform to many kinds of substrates, such as butcher paper, natural kraft, newsprint, chip and linerboard and coated boards. The advancements of the last decade have been impressive: Copyright © 2020 Flexographic Technical Association All rights reserved. By focus on development of new technology of printing and packaging, we are now one of the leading manufacturers of printing and packaging equipment in China. The development in all areas of packaging printing has been swift, which offers new possibilities to printers. Therefore when ink buildup is noticed, the plates need to be cleaned because it can cause press downtime. Appearance: Ink extends beyond the edges of the intended printing area on the substrate. Flexography (often abbreviated to flexo) is a form of printing process which utilizes a flexible relief plate. In South America, this means machinery and plate technologies fully support high-quality printing, since modern flexo presses use thin plate technology and prepress is made with high-resolution imaging. Flexographic printing is a pressure-sensitive process. BOBST has been at the leading edge of this technology since the introduction over forty years ago of the FLEXO -1575, and today our flexo printing presses set the standard for what can be achieved with the offline flexo post-press process. Esko introduced high definition quality to the world of flexo printing and the benefits are too good to ignore. Esko offers both hardware and software to produce flexo plates for a wide range of applications. During the last decade, we have seen many products moved from gravure to flexo. These two drivers are excellent, although being forced to do something is still a poor reason to start a better process, considering that flexo can deliver better-quality prints than gravure. Such a print must be made under standard printing conditions with a printing device following the flexo principle. We all have been told that, traditionally, gravure printing has been suitable for high-quality runs and long runs. ... Technology for Today’s Flexo Better, ... We are a privately-held company with over 50 years experience providing unrivaled customer service to the flexographic printing industry. The inked plates have a slightly raised image and rotate at high speeds to transfer the image to the substrate. Flexo presses have short set-up times with a minimum of waste and guarantee high-quality output; Flexo printing eliminates the need for additional work and cost. Whereas flexo transfers ink from the plate directly to the substrate. The printing plates are usually made of photopolymer, elastomers or rubber, colour transfer is achieved by means of a chamber blade system over anilox rollers on flexo printing plates carrying the motif. When aiming for new goals, remember the saying “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”. To change this, we need to keep discussing high-quality printing and showcase first-class examples of it. BST eltromat International knows the exact demands of the industry – and thinks ahead, for precise printing results and an efficient printing process. Technically, offset printing can refer to any printing technique that uses a printing plate to transfer an image to an intermediate carrier and then onto the printed substrate. This website uses cookies and other tracking technologies. ... (printing quality) to use a flexo system. QEA has the most comprehensive and sophisticated lineup of evaluation tools for flexography, one of the fastest-growing sectors in commercial printing. The choice between flexo and gravure needs to be made on other grounds. Fittingly, the halo effect is one of 9 common flexo printing defects we recognize with pressure as a likely cause. MPS. Operator Focused, Results Driven. AVT proudly offers a cutting-edge combination of superior vision technologies to deliver the highest level of process control and quality assurance for flexo. Probably the two best advantages of flexo printing are the quality … Quality Control in Flexo Platemaking by Ivan Rozo, Business Development Manager, MGS Latin America, MacDermid Graphic Solutions. Flexo printing is a high-quality and very versatile printing process that … FlexoExport is known globally for buying and selling quality used flexo presses, digital web presses, and converting equipment in the flexographic printing industry. Slur is characterised by the smearing of the printed image: the dots are distorted in printing direction, typically elongated, and exhibit an oval shape. Examples of Specifications in the printing industry are SWOP (Specifications for Web Offset Printing), and Gracol 7 (General Requirements for Applications in Commercial offset Lithography, 7 th edition). Flexo Printing. We sell the industry's most respected manufacturers, including Mark Andy, Nilpeter, Gallus, ABG, HP, Xeikon, Rotoflex, Comco, Aquaflex, and Webtron, and more. Contact AVT today to learn more about our solutions for Flexo printers and converters. Ink buildup can be seriously detrimental to the print quality. This tremendous range of products means that today’s flexo production processes are especially challenging for quality assurance technologies. Thanks to the use of Epoxy resin, combined with its honeycomb structure, Trelleborg sleeve technology is proven as being remarkably stable over time. Our test tools quantify flexo plates, film, masks, photopolymer- and metal-backed plates and sleeves, letterpress, newsprint and direct-engraved plates, as well as the final print. High Quality Flexo Printing Products. Flexographic (flexo) is a method we use to print our labels. However, during the last 10 or 15 years, we have seen a rapid change in regional flexo markets. However, you should keep in mind that there are still special product areas where there are certain challenges due to the special requirements of the material or ink, such as special color resistance, lamination or a sterilization process. The remarkable capabilities of 21st-century flexography have made it the workhorse reproduction process for virtually every product category, and every quality level. That is what this article is about. Flexographic Printing - Axcyl Flexo Plate Mounting Sleeves ... Dimensional stability of sleeve is essential to guarantee high quality & consistent printing. Flexo post-printing presses Corrugated box makers around the globe are able to exploit new markets by improving the quality of their flexo post-print. With HD Flexo Printing and HD Label Printing, high-resolution imaging on laser etched plates creates a textured surface on the plate, improving ink lay-down and increasing ink density on the final print. Based on today’s technological level, we can argue that if any of these problems still appear in modern flexo printing, the issues are related to the print jobs being done conventionally (the same way as a decade ago) instead of updating and adopting new technologies. Most likely causes: Too much pressure pushes ink out because it has no other place to go. The press automates additional tasks in-line that are most commonly … High production speed: even faster than rotogravure; Can be used on a wide variety of substrates; Low costs for producing the image carrier (cliché or plate) Disadvantages of flexo printing. 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